Focus were a Dutch band. They realised from the start that writing lyrics in Dutch would hamper any overseas market they might want to break into (UK and US especially). They also knew that trying to sing in English wouldn't work either (I've met Thijs van Leer, the organist/flautist/vocalist, and even now some 50 years on his English isn't great), so most of their songs were instrumentals. Hocus Pocus was structured in such a way as to have the repetitive riff followed by the drum solo, followed by whatever Thijs wanted to yodel, whistle or whatever, but still using the same basic melody at the core. I've seen them do a 20 minute version of this live where (given his advancing years) the guitar does the high notes Thijs can no longer hit. By the way, it's the one and only time a band got a standing ovation on The Midnight Special.
This band was very famous in the Netherlands and certainly could make "serious" music. The guitarist is probably the best guitarist from the Netherlands (Jan Akkerman). Now age 74.
I’ve seen and experienced Jan Akkerman a few times. Even if it is not always ‘your taste’ it always have been a exceptional experience of guitar playing. Check out his gig playing with Paco de Lucia (ages ago) Mixing electric guitar (Akkerman style) with de Lucia’s wizardry.
In the 70s European Rock went in a different direction then N.American Rock. Sometimes called Alternate Rock. Germany and Netherlands were hot beds for it.
Thijs van Leer is the man yodeling. He is a great musician, plays several instruments. If you like his flute part, look up Introspection 1&2 which is classical!
Thijs van Leer is an amazing musician and studied piano and flute. Jan Akkerman, guitarist, was named best guitar player in the world in 1973 by Melody Maker…..
Pretty glad i was present in the 70s,a time when music was daring, interesting ,if not, challenging.Thanks to bands like Magma, Can,Amon Dull,and Jazz men like John Coltrane, Ornette Coleman ,Rahsaan Roland Kirk et al.Wonderful times.
First: Gladys Knight was the host of that show (you know gladys knight & the Pips). Now this song song should be once that long. The show directors said: 7 minutes of song is too long, so please make it shorter....Well, instead they dubble up the speed :) like....eat that. And that band was international a big thing. Jan Akkerman (2 times best guitarist), Thijs van Leer, well amazing musician, worked with everyone. Pierre van der Linde (drummer) also played in many bands. One band is calling Trace. Real real fantastic progressive band.
Bwahahaha!! Oh man, I am dying over here!! This song came out when I was just about in my teens, and everyone reacted exactly the way you did! Underneath the bizarre song are some insanely talented musicians. Great reaction!! 😁
in the true spirit of rock and roll being rebellious... instead of cutting their 7 minute song to fit into the under 4 minutes the tv producers demanded, they played the entire 7 minute song in almost double time
You got so caught up with the vocalist you didn't notice the band's mad musical skills. Remember, this was 1973, but listen to how advanced the guitarist was.
Tom Morello is a good comparison to Thijs van Leer in terms of the genius of "hearing" and playing wonderful anarchic sounds that others can only dream about. Guy named Hendrix was pretty good at that, too.
Welcome to the 70's LEE, LSD-25 & shrooms😂 loved your reaction to this one. Immediately and hit the like button without listening to. I had this song on 45, I don't think I even played side 2. Fantastic request MBAdept❗👍
They where told to cut the song down to 4 mins , but they said they will not , so they speeded it up to get the whole song in, a a cut song wouldn’t make any sense they said .
Thijs van Leer is classical schooled fluidplayer and together with the other members of the band they formed the first superband in the Netherlands, this was following the trend at that time with other super groups like Crosby, Stills and Nash and Cream
They've recorded versions of this song several times (including before it became a hit in the early '70s). One of the more recent times they recorded it was in 2010 for an ad for the World Cup. The ad was part of a Cup ad campaign for the company on your t-shirt. I think the song actually re-entered the charts because of that ad....
The band Focus is in 2021 still playing!!! . Organist and flutist Thijs is so as usually amazing and energetic. So almost 50 years a great band. I hope to visit a concert this year.
@@pietkeizer5216 Beat me by a year, Saw them for the first time in 74, now they do not come to this side of the ditch as they play in Europe obviously.
@@toddstevens13 Hopefully in 2022, otherwise...come to Europe Todd, than we go together and speak with Thijs ( I met him three years ago, he is a very kindly person)
Notice the drummer. It apparently is his day off; that’s not working, he seems to have agreed to help the others out for a bit and then will be getting back to his saturday afternoon chores.
2:09 who droped the acid in his tea 😆 i've seen many reactions but you have the best reaction ever !!! welcome to the 70's ! it was a acid world back then
Focus were a great band, even better live. Saw them loads of times whenever they toured the U.K. It's regretable that you missed the most creative time of prog rock, try listening to 'Close to the Edge' by Yes (1972 I think) you won't be disappointed.
Thank You so much for this reaction. The original song from the album is a lot longer, but slower, Focus had to speed up heavily for the show. This is - even if You might doubt it - a Prog Rock classic, covered by Marillion and Iron Maiden...
@@mennobults6464 Those two were not the only ones to cover This Masterpiece, Helloween, and The Vandells, who skewer it badly, lol are just two more of the many others. There is even an bossa nova style cover.
the original version was about 7 minutes, the program gave them 4 minutes. So they went and spead it up to still play the whole peice. Jan Akkerman started to play the riff during a jam session and the rest immidatly organnic did what followed, that song was ready at that 1st session. T.v.Leer(singer, organ player etc.) is a n multi tallent
Enjoyed your reaction. Now play "Love Remembered" by Focus and be transported to the middle of the desert and "Sylvia" this Dutch Group's biggest hit. ENJOY :)
Since you are now ready, Next you Must do the Live Version of Frankenstein, by the Edgar Winter Group, where Edgar plays every instrument imaginable. It is on par with this Masterpiece.
This version is so much faster they had to make a 6:30 min song 4min. Instead of cutting verses they went double time. Great musicians was a big hit in the day great party song. This song came out of a jam session when he started yodelling the band loved it.
Why on Earth haven’t the younger generations heard of anything that went before them. We explored everything in the Sixties but now the young just accept what they are fed by the music industry and that is a very poor diet. We knew all the jazz and blues musicians going back to the twenties, plus classical music, Sinatra and Crosby - everything. When this track came out people accepted it without ridicule. That’s because our minds were open to everything.
imagine us in our teens yodeling, mimicking this Focus song, on the streets, fortyfive years ago, in the communist era 😀. Yes, we did it and was real fun.
Seriously ... they tried to fit a 6 minute song into a 2:30 min performance ... that is some craftsmanship ... not the best redition of the song, *really* !!!
Band meeting: how do we play a 6+ minute song in 3 minutes?🤔.................. please note that no drugs were harmed in the performance of this music! 🤣👍
